1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention relates to a control device for a vehicle which drives actuators to operate a clutch and a transmission mechanism provided in each of two paths to transmit an engine torque, and a motorcycle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a motorcycle in which a clutch and gears of a transmission mechanism are operated by an actuator is known. JP2010-106982A discloses such a motorcycle. The motorcycle of JP2010-106982A has two paths for transmitting an engine torque. Each path includes a clutch and a transmission mechanism arranged downstream of the clutch, and the two transmission mechanisms share an output shaft. One transmission mechanism includes plural gears for realizing odd-number gear levels, and the other transmission mechanism includes plural gears for realizing even-number gear levels. The plural gears of each transmission mechanism include gears rotating together with a driven member of the clutch, and gears rotating together with the output shaft. The transmission mechanism of JP2010-106982A is a dog clutch type. That is, dog-teeth and dog-holes are formed on the gears rotating together with the driven member of the clutch and the gears rotating together with the output shaft, respectively. The dog-teeth are fitted in the dog-holes, thus engaging the two gears with each other.
In normal travel of the motorcycle of this type, both of the two clutches are set in an engaged state. Meanwhile, one of the two transmission mechanism is set in a neutral state (that is, in a state where none of the gears is engaged), and in the other transmission mechanism, paired gears for the gear level set in the travel are engaged. Thus, an engine torque is transmitted to the rear wheel via the path including the transmission mechanism in the engaged state.
When a gear shift command is generated, the clutches and the transmission mechanisms are operated through the following procedure, so that the path to transmit a torque is switched. The clutch (hereinafter, next clutch) in the path to transmit the torque after a gear shift (next path) is completely disengaged. After that, the paired gears of the transmission mechanism (hereinafter, next transmission mechanism) arranged downstream of the next clutch are engaged. Then, after the paired gears of the next transmission mechanism are engaged, the clutch to be set in the engaged state is switched to the next clutch from the clutch which has transmitted the torque before the gear shift (hereinafter, previous clutch). After that, the paired gears of the transmission mechanism (hereinafter, previous transmission mechanism) downstream of the previous clutch are disengaged.
However, before a gear shift command is generated, there is a difference in rotation speed between the paired gears forming the next gear level (paired gears in the next transmission mechanism). Therefore, at the moment when these two gears are engaged with each other in response to the gear shift command, the rotation speed of one gear of the two gears and the rotation speed of the driven member of the next clutch rotating together with the one gear change instantly and thus the changes of the rotation speed generate a torque. Since this torque is transmitted to the rear wheel, a shock is generated and thus smooth traveling is obstructed.